Audacity: No sound – what can you do?

If Audacity no longer plays sound, this is usually due to incorrect settings. These can easily change once you connect a speaker or headphones. In this guide, we will show you how to select the correct playback device.

No sound in Audacity: How to fix the error

If you get no sound when playing a track in Audacity, first check the selected playback device:

• On the top right of the menu bar, next to the microphone, you can select the playback device from a drop-down menu.

• Check here if the correct device is selected, plugged in and switched on.
• You can also find the settings under “Edit” ☻ “Settings” or [CTRL] + [P] and then in the section “Devices”.

Check sound settings in Windows

• If you still don’t get any sound, right-click on the speaker icon in the taskbar to open “Playback Devices”.

• Right-click on the desired device and select “Test”. Now you will hear a signal from the loudspeaker / headphones.

• You can now right-click on the device again and select “Select as default device”.

Reconnect device and reinstall driver

• If you still have no sound in Audacity, remove all connected devices and restart the computer

• If you now hear no sound from Audacity through the internal speaker, connect headphones or external speakers. Wait until the driver is installed and restart Audacity.
• The last option is to uninstall or update the old driver.